Love Heals All Wounds
by camelotprincess1
Summary: Set during the movie. Jennifer lives in the Opera House with her little brother. She doesn't believe that the Opera Ghost is real. What happens when they meet? Erik/OC First fanfic so please no flames!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is for the entire story. I do not own the Phantom of the Opera.

Chapter 1

It has been exactly two years since Jamie, my little brother, and I came to the Opera Populaire. Time seems to go by rather quickly here. It feels just like yesterday that Jamie and I first came to the Opera House. I remember when Madame Giry came for us in Scotland.

My mother had died the week before from Scarlet Fever and my father had already been dead for many years. We were now orphans. After the grief subsided enough for me to think clearly, I realized that we only had one option. We would have to go live with Grandmother. I didn't know how I could live with that disagreeable woman. It wasn't that she was mean to me directly. It was the fact that she treated Jamie with such disdain that I couldn't stand to be around her.

Jamie was born special my mother used to say. He has always been a little slower than the rest of the children his age. The doctors said that it was something in his brain. They also said that he wouldn't live to see his seventh birthday. When Mother asked why they thought such a horrible thing would happen to him, they simply said that they had seen this sort of thing before in a little girl once. She had died two days before her seventh birthday.

After we got the news, Mother became very paranoid about Jamie. She was constantly worrying about him; so when she was lying on her deathbed, she grabbed my hand in a surprisingly strong grip and made me swear that no matter what happened, Jamie and I would stay together, and I would take care of him. I immediately promised her that I would do whatever it took to keep us together.

That was why I was so concerned about living with Grandmother because I knew she would take Jamie away from me somehow. As I was worrying over this, our family butler came in and said that we had a guest. At first I was confused because I couldn't imagine who it was. Grandmother had written to say she would collect us next week, so I knew it couldn't be her. Since I knew it wasn't her, I had no idea who else it could be. As I was pondering these thoughts, a woman I had never seen before walked into the room. When her eyes landed on me, her gaze softened and she smiled sadly. For a few minutes, neither one of us spoke. We just stared at each other.

Finally, she spoke. "I assume that you are Jennifer?"

I stared at her with a questioning gaze. "How do you know my name?"

She chuckled softly. "I used to be good friends with your mother. She wrote about you and your brother often."

I was still confused. "Forgive me, but I don't know who you are."

"Of course, of course. My name is Madame Giry. Your mother and I went to school together when we were young. When I got a letter saying that your mother had died, my condolences by the way, I also received a letter from your mother. She wanted me to take you and your brother back to the Opera House in Paris. She said she would rather you two live in France than have you go live with her mother. So here I am. Would you like to come live with me in Paris?"

"My brother can come too?"

"Absolutely."

"And you won't try to separate us?"

"I would never do such a thing! You are all the other has left in the world."

"If that is the case then I would love for us to come and live with you."

"Splendid! How long do you need in order to pack your belongings?"

"Well, we don't have much that is worth taking to Paris. If you want we can leave tonight."

"That is even better. I don't want to be away from the Opera House for too long. My dancers will start to get lazy," she said with a slight chuckle.

"Your dancers?"

"Why yes! I forgot to tell you. I am the ballet mistress at the Opera Populaire. Which reminds me, can you dance?"

"Oh, how I wish I could! But I'm afraid I have two left feet."

"Can you sing or play an instrument?"

"Unfortunately, I have no musical talent whatsoever. Is that a problem?"

"No, of course not. I was just wondering because then I thought I might be able to put you in the next opera, but since you don't have any special talents, I hope you don't mind being a maid or something like that."

"I don't mind at all. I've never liked being the center of attention or anywhere near a stage, so I would prefer being a maid."

"Marvelous! Why don't you go pack and tell Jamie that you're going to live with a friend of your mother's."

"All right. I will be back in a moment Madame Giry."

"Oh, no formalities! Since we will be living together and you will not be one of my ballet dancers and because I knew your mother so well, you can call me Aunt Ann," she said with an affectionate smile.

"All right then . . . Aunt Ann," I said with a tentative smile.

Her only response was an even wider smile. As I raced up the stairs, my excitement grew. We wouldn't have to live with Grandmother! We were going to live in Paris, and I wouldn't have to worry about Jamie being taken away from me! I couldn't wait to tell Jamie.

He took it rather well when I told him we would be going with Aunt Ann on a grand adventure to France. Of course, he didn't respond to me when I told him, but that was normal for him. Because of his condition, he rarely spoke or looked at me. When he did speak, he sounded like a toddler learning to talk for the first time even though he is four. That was fine with me because, no matter what, I love him with all my heart. He is my whole world.

I had just finished packing the belongings we would probably need in Paris when I heard Aunt Ann call up the to ask if we were ready to leave yet. As I was about to shout back that yes we were, I thought of something that I could not go to Paris without. I just hoped that I could find it before it was time to leave.

I ran to Mother's room and went straight to where I knew it would be. It would be in her jewelry box on her vanity on the left side of her bedchamber. With trembling hands, I opened the lid and saw the most beautiful necklace in the world, a locket made of silver instead of gold with a single intricate rose on top of it. I quickly clasped it around my neck and made a promise to myself that I would never take it off for it was the only thing I had left of my mother's. As long as I had it, Mother would be with me always. I put Jamie on my hip for he was small enough to hold like that, and then I grabbed our luggage and we made our way to where Aunt Ann was waiting.

We were about to start a new life in a new country, and I couldn't be more excited!

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	2. Chapter 2

I would like to thank all the people who reviewed! Each one means so much to me. I was worried that no one would read my story, or if they did they wouldn't like it. You guys rock! I am so sorry about not updating sooner. My computer had to go to the doctor.

This is a very important A/N! Jennifer will NOT be friends with Christine or Meg. She won't be mean to them, but they won't be more than acquaintances if that. In fact, Jennifer doesn't have any friends apart from Madame Giry. You'll understand my reasoning later on in the story.

Chapter 2

Shouting brought me out of my memories and back to the present. I looked up from the laundry I was folding to see the prima donna, Carlotta, threaten to leave once again. I rolled my eyes as the manager told two men that I'd never seen before to grovel. These must be the new managers Aunt Ann had told me were coming to replace the current one.

If only I had known that the Opera House was so filled with petty, gossiping, and giggling ballet rats, as Aunt Ann likes to call them, I might have been a little more cautious before accepting her offer to come and live here. I don't mean to sound ungrateful because I'm not. It is just that I wish there was at least one person here who I could have a real conversation with. That is probably why I don't have many friends. Everyone thinks I'm on a high horse because I refuse to gossip like a little school girl. I hear their scathing comments and each one of them hurts, but I have bigger things to worry about than if the ballet rats like me or not.

Jamie's seventh birthday is coming up in two days, and I'm scared to death that the doctors will be right, that I'll lose him. I don't know what I would do without little Jamie. He has been my ray of sunshine for so long that if I did lose him, my life would be thrust into utter darkness.

As I lost myself for the second time in thoughts and memories, Carlotta began to sing. I winced as she completely ruined a perfectly good song. I might not have any musical abilities, but I would like to think that I have good musical tastes. In my opinion, Carlotta was the worst singer I had ever heard, and yet she thought she had the voice of an angel. I looked over at the new managers to see how they were reacting to her singing, and I had to stop myself from bursting into a fit of giggles. It was obvious that they wished she would just stop.

When Carlotta hit a particularly high note that had everyone cringing, one of the backdrops for a scene came crashing down on her. Half the ballet rats started screaming and running around like chickens with their heads cut off, while the other half were holding each other tightly and looking around in fear.

I didn't see Aunt Ann and began to worry that she had somehow been harmed. The laundry beside me forgotten, I raced up the stairs leading to the stage. As I reached the top of the stage, Aunt Ann walked up to the new managers with something behind her back. At first I was relieved that she was fine, but then I became confused as to what she could possibly be hiding.

When she had everyone's attention, she cleared her throat, "I have a note from the Opera Ghost."

One of the managers stopped her from continuing, "My God, you people are obsessed!" I had to agree with him on that point. Everyone except for me was terrified of this so called Opera Ghost. I personally believe that Aunt Ann invented the Opera Ghost to keep the ballet rats in line, but someone had taken her joke a little too far and had been receiving money from the old manager for as long as I had been here. Hopefully these managers would have more sense than he.

Aunt Ann gave him a look but otherwise didn't comment. "He welcomes you to his Opera House."

He interrupted her again. "HIS Opera House!"

She gave him another look, "And requests that you continue to leave box five empty for his use. He also wants to remind you that his salary is due."

"His salary!"

"Yes. The previous manager paid him twenty thousand francs a month. Perhaps you can afford more with the Vicomte as your patron."

"Well, it obviously doesn't matter because without our leading soprano, we will have to refund a full house!" Startled, I looked around to find that Carlotta and her entourage were indeed gone.

Aunt Ann's voice broke through the chaos, "Christine Daae could sing the part."

The managers looked at her as if she were crazy. "Her? A chorus girl? Definitely not."

I was also confused. I had never heard Christine sing, but if Aunt Ann thought she could sing the part then she must have a pretty voice.

Christine stepped up and began to sing the song that Carlotta had been singing when the backdrop fell on her. As she sang, everyone was stunned into silence. She had the most beautiful voice I had ever heard! She made the words in the song come to life and dance around your head. I looked to the managers again for their reaction. From their identical expression, I would think it would be safe to say that Christine Daae had become our new prima donna.

After all my chores were done, I started back to the private room that I shared with Jamie. I had asked Aunt Ann if Jamie and I could have our own room, so that I wouldn't have to worry about people staring or making fun of him. Once I told her my reasoning, she made the necessary arrangements for us. Just before I reached the door, I thought I saw the silhouette of a tall man at the edge of my vision, but when I looked again, it was gone. I quickly shook it off as nothing.

I opened our door to find Jamie playing with the rag doll I gave him for his birthday last year. For almost being seven, Jamie was still rather small, but I wasn't worried about him. He was happy and that's all that mattered to me.

"Guess what Jamie! Carlotta is gone, and we now have a wonderful new singer!"

He looked up at me and smiled. I picked him up, set him on my lap, and continued to tell him about my day. Jamie was the best listener. He always seemed to know when I needed someone to listen and would sit on my lap patiently until I was done talking.

Soon it was time to go to bed, so I tucked us both in for the night and blew out the candle on the nightstand. I told him goodnight and that I loved him, just like I did every night. When I was sure that Jamie was asleep, I quickly asked God to help Jamie through another night, to give me one more day with him, and if possible, to let him live to be an old man. I then hugged Jamie close and drifted to sleep.

I slowly came out of my deep sleep. I looked to the window and saw that the sun was just starting to come up. As I stretched, I looked to where Jamie was still fast asleep. He looked so peaceful that I couldn't bear to wake him yet, so I got up and picked out the dress I would wear for the day. It was a simple, dark blue dress, but it was my favorite one to wear. After I finished tying my apron around my waist, I went to wake Jamie.

"Come on Jamie, time to wake up. Tomorrow's a big day for you. I thought that after I'm done with my chores, we could go look at toys." I said while gently coaxing Jamie to wake up by rubbing his back. He didn't respond.

"Come on Jamie, wake up." He didn't even move. I started to panic.

"Jamie, this isn't funny anymore!" I cried while shaking him frantically. He still didn't respond. My eyes were starting to tear up. I shook him with all my might. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was useless. I was too late, but I still kept shaking him. Suddenly, my hands stopped moving. The thought that I had tried so hard to deny had broken through my defenses.

Jamie was gone. I knew nothing else as I slipped into unconsciousness.

Please don't hate me! Jamie's death is important to the development of Jennifer as a person and the story. I hated writing that part. I was getting pretty choked up. I hadn't mentioned Jamie a lot in here, but I had already become attached. I hope you stay with me as I write this story.

A/N: Even though this takes place during the movie I will be dragging the movie out so that the story lasts longer. I also hope that I got the dialogue as close as it is in the movie.

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